


Bygones.

by pensive



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-17
Updated: 2008-12-17
Packaged: 2017-10-27 13:45:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/296485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pensive/pseuds/pensive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vignettes of Jane and Sophie's meetings, past and present.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bygones.

**Author's Note:**

> This started as an episode recap, then became personal canon; 600+ words later I wound up with a ficlet. There's some Wrong in here, but I tried to end on a positive note.
> 
> Since the writing of this, my take on their relationship has shifted slightly, but not by much. Also, Sophie has a tendency to lie to herself.

Imagine a universe where Patrick Jane had a _thing_ with his psychiatrist Sophie.

\----  
She initiated it because Patrick was so shattered and withdrawn that he wouldn't respond to any of her regular treatment methods. She knew it was in violation of her medical oaths, and she knew it was unprofessional. But it brought him out of his shell and taught him he _would_ be able to love again. They fell in love with each other, but then Sophie met Alex Nelson. Alex Nelson was one of those controlling-but-damaged-and-emotionally-unavailable men Sophie had been drawn to her whole life.

Sophie fell in love with Patrick Jane because he had two-thirds of those traits, and a part of her wanted to escape the cycle of victimization. Sophie fell in love with Alex Nelson because he had _all_ three traits and because Patrick Jane had only controlled people to turn a buck. Since Patrick decided to drop the fake psychic gig, take his life back, and help people for a change, that meant he would never control her. Also, his status as "emotionally unavailable" had changed due to Sophie's treatment, so by the time Alex Nelson walked into Sophie's life, Patrick Jane was really down to one out of three.

\----  
When they meet again years later, Sophie asks Patrick how he's been, and he says "good." Sophie does not know Patrick sleeps on a bare mattress on the floor of his bedroom.

\----  
There was a reason Sophie looked at Patrick in the lab and emphasized the phrase "complex ethical issues." Patrick understood that complex ethical issues included things like doctor/patient relationships.

\----  
Sophie released Patrick Jane from her care and back into society when his eyes stopped brightening every time she entered the room. Mentalists are expert readers of body language, and Sophie's said "there's someone else" practically in all caps.

\----  
When they meet again years later, Sophie asks Patrick how he's been, and he says "good." Sophie does not know that the sick smiley-face Red John drew with the blood of Patrick's murdered family was never washed off the bedroom wall.

\----  
Patrick Jane knows that emotional breakdowns are common in situations like his, but he's still embarrassed. He doesn't sell every stick of furniture in his home to keep it off his record, but he sells most of it.

\----  
One day the California Bureau of Investigation hits a brick wall in an investigation, and someone suggests Patrick Jane be called in as a consultant. Agent Van Pelt remembers seeing him on television years ago doing work as a psychic for local police. Patrick says psychics are fake but he'll help them anyway.

\----  
When Patrick Jane is a patient of Dr. Sophie Miller, he draws Red John's calling-card on the wall one day while in a feverish rage. With sweat and bloody fists.

Patrick can't sleep, so he stares at it and doesn't speak for nearly two days afterword.

The mark is washed off the wall because on the third day, Patrick is still staring but suddenly bursts into hysterics and throws a pillow at it.

\----  
When they meet again years later, Sophie asks Patrick how he's been, and he says "good." They sit on a park bench and struggle not to reopen past emotions, but Patrick fails first and gives her a slow, sweet kiss on the cheek. His hand is gently on her face, his lips just to the side of her mouth.

Sophie does not know that Patrick keeps the logo of Red John on his wall to remind himself that he did not give up and die, but that he chose to fight back.


End file.
